Britain was yesterday warned of a new generation of terrorists inspired by the internet.

In a worrying first, three men convicted of plotting an atrocity to eclipse 7/7 were not recruited by radical preachers, but influenced by extremist rantings online.

They made their own way to Pakistan where they were easily able to locate and join Al Qaeda training camps.

On their return they set about raising cash, recruiting suicide bombers and building a new and deadlier type of rucksack bomb.

Irfan Naseer, Irfan Khalid and Ashik Ali wanted to create a new landmark date of horror that would surpass the 2005 London bombings as ‘revenge for everything’.

They plotted to use bombs and guns, attach knives to cars and drive them into crowds – a tactic they called ‘the Ultimate Mowing Machine’ – and smear poison on car door handles.

The group were inspired to mass murder by the internet rantings of US-born Yemeni extremist Anwar Al-Awlaki.

And their sophisticated plot provoked fears at the highest levels of Government about a wave of self-starting ‘Nike’ terrorists, so called because of Al-Awlaki’s rallying cry of ‘just do it’ – the sportswear company’s catchphrase.

Security experts are alarmed at the ease with which two of the men, Naseer and Khalid, made contact with Al Qaeda command in Pakistan.

They fear other fanatics have been self-radicalised and could decide unprompted to launch suicide missions in Britain.

In previous cases, terror suspects have been recruited or radicalised by Al Qaeda operatives in Britain before being sent overseas for training.

Fortunately, the gang made several mistakes, and in a reference to the black comedy film about bungling suicide bombers, Ali told his estranged wife Salma Kabal: ‘Oh, you think this is a flipping Four Lions. We’re one man short.’

The gang, who lived on benefits, tricked members of the public into funding the operation by posing as street collectors for Muslim Aid during Ramadan.

They raised more than £12,000 but lost £9,000 in just five days after gambling on the stock exchange in an attempt to boost their coffers. And Naseer, 31, bought an instant cold pack in the mistaken belief it contained ammonium nitrate, which can cause explosions.

Yesterday the trio were convicted of terrorist offences at Woolwich Crown Court. It can now be revealed that:

'The joker': Ashik Ali joked that the terrorists were like the cell depicted in the comedy film 'Four Lions'

The security services feared the men could target military bases, supermarkets, cinemas and train stations with a wave of up to eight suicide bombers armed with automatic rifles.

The terrorists were also inspired by 7/7 ringleader Mohammed Sidique Khan and said they would learn from his ‘mistakes’ and kill far more people.

The men were trained by the same Al Qaeda bomb-maker as Khan and recorded suicide videos after visiting a notorious extremist madrasa in Pakistan.

One of the bombers was a respected teacher at a controversial Birmingham Islamic school known as ‘the Muslim Eton’.

Questions were raised about the success of Government programmes to tackle extremism after no-one tipped off police about the gang’s activities, despite widespread suspicions.

The plot was smashed in the biggest security operation since the 2006 attempt to smuggle liquid bombs on planes destined for the US.

Counter terrorism police and MI5 arrested 11 men and one woman across Birmingham in September 2011.

They were all brought up in first generation Pakistani and Bangladeshi families.

Police and MI5 carried out a huge bugging operation which recorded the gang’s damning comments.

Watched: The group were under surveillance 24 hours a day by MI5 and the police, pictured here returning from a trip to a camp in Pakistan

Charity funded terror: The men posed as
fundraisers for a Muslim charity (left) then used the cash to pay for
bomb devices such as this alarm clock (right)

VIDEO Moment terror group were arrested captured on police camera

The hidden devices revealed how the
men worshipped the 7/7 bombers and the internet writings of Osama Bin
Laden, boasting their attack would be ‘another 9/11.’

LOCAL FIGHT AGAINST EXTREMISM

A radio debate was held this morning on how to tackle the problem of extremism in Birmingham.

Marcus Beale, Assistant Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: ‘There's been some unfair criticism of our communities in Birmingham around their contact with the police over this issue.

‘There was some reporting that came to us around some of these individuals, around how they were trying to collect money with buckets on various streets. I’d very much welcome people coming up to us and telling us.

‘The case is a really timely reminder that the terrorism threat is sometimes pretty close to home. As any threat, it will adapt and change as time goes by.’

Jahan Mahmood, who works with young Muslim men in Birmingham on anti-radicalisation projects, told BBC Radio 4: ‘There has been a breakdown of trust for a number of reasons. This community has done a lot in tackling extremism.

‘In the past we have worked together. We've been trying to rebuild relationships. It's not been easy but we are working at a better level now and I'm sure if we continue we will be able to rebuild our ties with police.

‘I've often heard young men talk about Afghanistan and there's a lot of bravado. Everybody wants to give someone close to them the benefit of the doubt. Do they really understand the potential dangers of going to Pakistan?

‘We need to get to the people out there who sometimes are not engaged in their own communities. It’s difficult to reach them. It’s like a sub-culture within a culture. Nobody wants to be seen having any relationship or connections within that.’

They
were also inspired by Al-Awlaki, a key figure of Al Qaeda In The
Arabian Peninsula, who was killed in a drone strike 12 days after their
arrest. Officials named Al-Awlaki the architect of ‘just do it’
terrorism after he wrote an article in Inspire, an English language
online magazine he co-founded in 2010.

The
fanatic said: ‘Assassinations, bombings, and acts of arson are all
legitimate forms of revenge against a system that relishes the sacrilege
of Islam in the name of freedom.’

‘You
sought to persuade others that a terror plot here in this country was
by far preferable to fighting jihad abroad. You were seeking to recruit a
team of somewhere between six and eight suicide bombers to carry out a
spectacular bombing campaign, one which would create an anniversary
along the lines of 7/7 or 9/11.’

Naseer
was convicted of five counts of preparing terrorist acts, Khalid of
four and Ali of three. They will be sentenced in April or May.

They
were joined in the terror cell by law graduate Rahin Ahmed, 26, who
became their chief financier as they used fluorescent jackets and
charity buckets to cheat the public.

Fundraising: Irfan Naseer, Irfan Khalid and Ashik Ali held table top sales in Birmingham where the cash raised would be secretly siphoned off to pay for trips to Pakistan

Surveillance: MI5 had been watching the terror group and had planted a bug in their Hinda Civic where they were heard boasting about the atrocity they planned

Shopping: Ashik Ali was watched buying curtains from Argos as part the sophisticated spying operation by the British secret services

Late night: Officers pulled the terrorists over as they drove to a takeaway just before midnight

Prosecution: Ashik Ali was taken from the car and is detained along with the two other men who were all found guilty of terrorism offences at Woolwich Crown Court today

[caption

BRITISH BOMBERS FAMILIES KNEW OF 'TRAINING' MISSIONS'

Police received no intelligence from the Muslim community in Birmingham about the terror cell, even after relatives of four of the gang discovered they had travelled to Pakistan.

The only time police were contacted about any of them was over an allegation of aggressive fundraising, concerning their charity street collections.

The lack of information raises questions over Prevent, the Home Office’s strategy to combat violent extremism, which has police community engagement at its core.

Detective Inspector Adam Gough, senior investigating officer in the West Midlands Counter-Terrorism Unit, said the extended families of Ishaaq Hussain, Shahid Khan, Khobaib Hussain and Naweed Ali ‘became aware’ the men had gone to a terror training camp when Khan called home.Although the families immediately pressured them into returning, none contacted police.

Police and security services were aware the four were travelling, and they had been recorded talking about getting their families into paradise through their martyrdom.

But officers decided against stopping them at that time to preserve the surveillance operation.

According to detectives, none of the men received any terror training as they left the camps after a day.

Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale said that while the ‘ideal’ scenario would have been for the relatives to inform police of what had happened, the families had ‘tried to do their best to bring them back and stop them from getting into harm’.

Scam: CCTV shows Rahin Ahmed depositing charity money they had fraudulently taken at a Barclays Bank in Moseley, Birmingham

Trips: Khobaib Hussain and Naweed Ali are shown here sitting and waiting for a flight from Birmingham Airport